A vehicle has a transmission for transmitting power generated by an engine to drive the vehicle while changing rotational force and speed depending on a driving state. The transmission is classified into a manual transmission and an automatic transmission.
A driver in the vehicle manipulates a gear shift lever, which is mounted on a console surface at the periphery of a driver's seat or mounted on a steering handle, so as to change a gear shift stage of the manual transmission or the automatic transmission to a desired gear shift stage.
The manual transmission is operated in a manner in which when the driver manipulates the gear shift lever to select a suitable gear for driving, the suitable gear desired by the driver is transmitted to the manual transmission through a cable or a rod. The automatic transmission is operated in a manner in which the driver turns on an inhibitor switch through a cable by moving the gear shift lever so as to transmit a movement desired by the driver to the automatic transmission.
Recently, the usage of an electronic gear shift lever, which substitutes a mechanical connection structure between the transmission and the gear shift lever using a mechanical gear shift lever with an electrical connection structure having an actuator and an electronic control unit (ECU) has been increased.
The electronic gear shift lever requires no mechanical cable connection structure unlike the mechanical gear shift lever, but requires a position sensor to convert driver's intention of shifting gears into an electronic signal thus to allow efficient and convenient manipulation of the gear shift lever.
The electronic gear shift lever is classified into a lever type electronic gear shift lever having an electronic gear shift lever which protrudes on a console surface of a vehicle to be manipulated forward and rearward, a dial type electronic gear shift lever having a cylindrical electronic gear shift lever mounted on a console surface of a vehicle and rotating leftward and rightward, a column type electronic gear shift lever having an electronic gear shift lever mounted at a side of a steering handle of a vehicle to be manipulated upward and downward, and a button type electronic gear shift lever having a button on which gear shift stages of a vehicle are indicated by being pressed.
However, in the lever type electronic gear shift lever in the related art, a trajectory of rectilinear movement thereof is significantly long because the driver needs to move the entire arm in a front and rear direction or in a left and right direction when manipulating the lever type electronic gear shift lever. Thus, the driver's head may be injured by colliding with the gear shift lever at the time of a vehicle collision because the gear shift lever protrudes above the console surface.
When the dial type electronic gear shift lever in the related art is used, a trajectory of rectilinear movement is hardly generated, however, stress is transferred on the driver's wrist and the manipulation of the dial type electronic gear shift lever is inconvenient because the driver has to manipulate the dial type electronic gear shift lever while rotating the wrist.
The column type electronic gear shift lever in the related art has an advantage in that a distance from the steering handle is short, however, a dynamic trajectory thereof is significantly long because the driver needs to twist the driver's arm to manipulate the column type electronic gear shift lever.
The button type electronic gear shift lever in the related art can be manipulated conveniently and intuitively, however all of a P-stage button, an R-stage button, an N-stage button, and a D-stage button need to be displayed within a limited space of the gear shift lever, and thus intervals between the buttons become short.
According to the electronic gear shift lever in the related art, since a start button of a vehicle and the gear shift lever are separated regardless of a vehicle type, a driver needs to manipulate the gear shift lever by moving the entire arm after an engine starts.